Production and Optimisation of Carboxymethylcellulose from Waste Cartons
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Date
2016-02
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Lignocellulosic materials (e.g. Waste cartons) can be utilized to produce carboxymethyl
cellulose, a water soluble, biodegradable anionic polymer. This study involved production
and optimization of carboxymethyl cellulose from waste cartons. The conversion of waste
cartons to CMC can be achieved mainly by three process steps: extraction of cellulose from
waste cartons, alkalization of the extracted cellulose and etherification of the alkali
cellulose into CMC. The central composite experimental design (CCD) method involving
response surface methodology was chosen to optimize the alkalization, etherification
reaction and to determine the effect of three operating variables: NaOH concentration,
amount of monochloroacetic acid and temperature (T). For the response surface
methodology involving CCD, a total of 20 experiments were conducted for three factors at
two levels with three replicates at center point. An optimization was carried out to optimize
the alkalization and etherification reaction parameters so as to determine the best NaOH
concentration, sodium monochloroacetic acid dosage, and etherification temperature that
resulted optimum degree of substitution (DS) of the CMC. The statistical analysis showed
that the degree of substitution of CMC of 0.767 was obtained at optimised alkalization &
etherification variables of 13.53%w/w NaOH conc., 0.4 w/w of monochloroacetic acid to
cellulose, and 41.62°C etherification temperature. The value of degree of substitution of
CMC obtained from experiment at the optimized conditions of sodium hydroxide
concentration of 13%, monochloroacetic acid concentration of 0.4w/w and etherification
temperature of 41°C was 0.767. It is concluded that the waste cartons can be a good source
of cellulose that can be modified by etherification reaction to carboxymethylcellulose with a
medium degree of substitution of about 0.767.
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Process Engineering